A theoretical framework concerning cultural patterns labeled individualism and collectivism is probed with regard to two conflicted societies, Israeli-Jewish and Palestinian-Arab societies. The following three methods were used to examine collectivism/individualism constructs among 1,190 Palestinian and 1,144 Israeli high school students: items that tap values, interest in different domains of history, and attitudes toward conflict resolution. Both groups were found to be more collectivistic than individualistic oriented. However, as predicted, the Palestinians scored higher than the Israeli students on items emphasizing in-group collectivist orientation (my nationality, my country, etc.). The differences between the two groups tended to reflect some subdistinctions such as different elements of individualism and collectivism. Moreover, they reflected the historical context and contemporary influences, such as the stage where each society is at in the nation-making process.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Al-Haj, M. , & Rosenfeld, H. (1990). Arab local government in Israel. Boulder, CO: Westview.
2.
Angvik, M. , & von Borries, B. (Eds.). (1997). Youth and history: A comparative European survey on historical consciousness and political attitudes among adolescents. Hamburg, Germany: Korber Stiftung.
3.
Azmeh, A. (1993). Islam and modernities. London: Verso.
4.
Barakat, H. (1985). The Arab family and the challenge of social transformation. In E. W. Ferna (Ed.), Women and the family in the Middle East: New voices of change (pp. 27-48). Austin: University of Texas Press.
5.
Bar-Tal, D. (1990). Group beliefs: A conception for analyzing group structure, processes, and behavior. New York/Berlin: Springer-Verlag.
6.
Bhawuk, D.P.S. , & Brislin, R. (1992). The measurement of intercultural sensitivity using the concepts of individualism and collectivism. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 16, 413-436.
7.
Brog, I. , & Lingoes, J. (1987). Multidimensional similarity structure analysis. New York/Berlin: Springer-Verlag.
8.
Canter, D. (1985). How to be a facet researcher. In D. Canter (Ed.), Facet theory: Approaches to social research (pp. 265-275). New York/Berlin: Springer-Verlag.
9.
Cohen, O. (1975). Haconflict bein Yehudim datiym vehilonim beIsrael: Solidariut vemerhak hevrati bekerev talmidei tihon [The conflict between religious and no-religious Jews in Israel: Solidarity and social distance among high school students]. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
10.
Erikson, E. (1968). Identity, youth and crisis. New York: Norton.
11.
Florian, V. , Mikulincer, M., & Weller, A. (1993). Does culture affect perceived family dynamics? A comparison of Arabs and Jewish adolescents in Israel. Journal of Comparative Family Studies, 24, 189-201.
12.
Guttman, L. (1977). What is not what in statistics. The Statistican, 26, 81-107.
13.
Guttman, L. , & Levy, S. (1975). Structure and dynamic of worries. Sociometry, 38, 445-473.
14.
Hand, S. P. , & Shavit, S. (1994). Persuasion and culture: Appeals in individualistic and collectivistic societies. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 30, 326-350.
15.
Hansen, J. C. (1987). Changing interests of women: Myth or reality?Applied Psychology: An International Review, 37, 133-150.
16.
Hofstede, G. (1980). Culture's consequences: International differences in work-related values. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.
17.
Hopewood, D. (1990). (Ed.). Studies in Arab history. New York: Macmillan.
18.
Kagitcibasi, C. , & Berry, J. (1989). Cross-cultural psychology: Current research and trends. Annual Review of Psychology, 40, 493-531.
19.
Kashima, Y. , Yamaguchi, S., Kim, V., Choi, S., Gelfand, M., & Yuki, M. (1995). Culture gender and self: A perspective from individualism-collectivism research. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 69, 925-937.
20.
Kimmerling, B. , & Migdal, Y. S. (1994). Palestinians: The making of the people. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
21.
Kindervater, A. , & von Borries, B. (1997). Historical motivation and historical-political socialization. In M. Angwik & B. von Borries (Eds.), Youth and history: A comparative European survey on historical consciousness and political attitudes among adolescents (pp. 62-74). Hamburg, Germany: Korber Stiftung.
22.
Kohlberg, L. (1964). Stage and sequence: The cognitive-developmental approach to socialization. In D. A. Goslem (Ed.), Handbook of socialization theory and research (pp. 36-52). Chicago: Rand McNally.
23.
Levy, S. , & Guttman, L. (1976). Values and attitudes of Israeli high school youth. Jerusalem: Israel Institute of Applied Social Research.
24.
Levy, S. , Levinson, H., & Katz, G. (1993). Beliefs, observances and social interaction among Israeli Jews. Jerusalem: Israel Institute of Applied Social Research.
25.
Markus, H. R. , & Kitayama, S. (1991). Culture and the self: Implications for cognition, emotion and motivation. Psychological Review, 98, 224-253.
26.
Oyserman, D. (1993). The lens of personhood: Viewing the self and others in a multicultural society. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 65, 993-1009.
27.
Parsons, T. (1951). The social system. New York: Free Press.
28.
Perez, D. (1990). Intifada. Boulder, CO: Westview.
29.
Realo, A. , Allik, J., & Vadi, M. (1997). The hierarchical structure of collectivism. Journal of Research in Personality, 31, 93-116.
30.
Roland, A. (1989). In search of self in India and Japan. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
31.
Sagy, S. , Orr, E., & Bar-On, D. (1999). Collectivism and individualism in Israeli society: Comparing religious and secular students. Human Relations, 52, 327-348.
32.
Salem, P. E. (1997). A critique of Western conflict resolution from a non-Western perspective. In P. E Salem (Ed.), Conflict resolution in the Arab world: Selected essays (pp. 10-25). Beirut, Lebanon: American University of Beirut.
33.
Schwartz, S. H. (1990). Individualism-collectivism: Critique and proposed refinements. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 21, 139-157.
34.
Schwartz, S. H. (1994). Beyond individualism/collectivism: New cultural dimensions of value. In U. Kim, C. Kagitcifasi, L. Choi, & G. Yoon (Eds.), Individualism and collectivism: Theory, method and applications (pp. 26-38). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
35.
Schweid, E. (1996). “Beyond” all that—Modernism, Zionism, Judaism. Israel Studies, 1, 224-246.
36.
Segev, T. (1992). Hamilion hashviey [The seventh million]. Jerusalem: Keter.
37.
Sivan, E. (1995). The enclaved culture. Chicago: Chicago University Press.
38.
Stoutland, F. (1990). Self and society and the claims of individualism. Studies in Philosophy and Education, 10, 105-137.
39.
Tonnies, F. (1957). Community and society. East Lansing: Michigan State University Press. (Original work published 1887)
40.
Triandis, H. C. (1985). Collectivism vs. individualism: A reconceptualization of a basic concept in cross-cultural psychology. In C. Bagley & G. K. Verma (Eds.), Personality, cognition and value: Cross cultural perspectives of childhood and adolescence (pp. 122-140). New York: Macmillan.
41.
Triandis, H. C. (1989). The self and social behavior in differing cultural contexts. Psychological Review, 96, 506-520.
42.
Triandis, H. C. (1995). Individualism and collectivism. Boulder, CO: Westview.
43.
Triandis, H. C. , McCusker, C., & Hui, C. H. (1990). Multi-method probes of individualism and collecitivism. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 59, 1006-1020.
44.
von Borries, B. (1997). Political attitudes and decision. In M. Angvik & B. von Borries (Eds.), Youth and history: A comparative European survey on historical consciousness and political attitudes among adolescents (pp. 48-57). Hamburg, Germany: Korber Stiftung.
45.
Waterman, A. S. (1984). The psychology of individualism. New York: Praeger.
46.
Williams, R. M. (1968). Values. In E. Sills (Ed.), International encyclopedia of the social sciences (pp. 496-524). New York: Macmillan.
